The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1888. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1774, 9 August 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1888. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Due of the most distinct promises of Sir H, Atkinson was that there should be no fresh appointments made to the Legislative Council; Several members. of the .Council hay® died lately, it is true, and under ordinary ci’curostances there would .have been several vacancies in it, but} a' part’ of the retrenchment scheme last session was that the House of Representatives should be reduced from 95 to 74, and that the number of Legislative Councillors should not exceed half the number of Representatives. In consideration of this arrangement Sir Harry Atkinson made a promise that he would make no fresh appointments to the Council, but it seems that now it is pretty well necessary to “ rope him down” so as to compel him to carry out his promise. Major Campbell, who has been for years in receipt of a large salary, for, performing the very onerous duties of Clerk to the House, is to retire on a large pension, and the redoubtable Sir Harry wants to settle him down comfortably for the rest of his days as an honorable member of the Legislative Council. Against Major Campbell we have not one word to say. We believe him to be a very amiable gentleman, who has always performed his duties in an entirely satisfactory manner. At any rate, his name, so far as we know, has never been mentioned in connection with anything which was not honorable and upright, and we have never heard even a whisper to his disadvantage. We have no objection whatsoever to Major Campbell, excepting that we do not believe in the principle of civil servants retiring On a pension and then being elevated to the Legislative Council. We think their country, in having paid them very large salaries for performing very small services during thdir lifetime, and then in providing them with a competency for their declining years, has treated them well, and that they are not entitled to any more. If vacancies are to he filled up in the Legislative Council there are hundreds of men in the colony who understand the wants of the country better than civil servants, who have all their lifetime basked in the glorious sunshine of perpetual prosperity, who have rendered greater services to the people as members of local bodies and in other ways without receiving remuneration, and who are certainly better entitled to, and better fitted for, the position. We have a few of the civil class in the Legislative Council already. Dr Pollen, for instance, receives a pension of £SOO a year, and so long as we remember he has been also receiving his £2lO as a member of the Legislative Council. Dr Pollen was for some years agent for the Government at Auckland, and on retiring from that position got his pension of £SOO a year and his seat in the Legislative Council, And yet there is not in the Council a more shamelessly arrogant member than this miserable parasite who lives ou the poor taxpayers of this colony. In 1886 he was guilty of the most cowardly action that ever took place in Parliament, The StoutVogel Ministry were defeated,, but before going to the country they found it necessary to pass the Representation Bill. Of course they were in a minority, and the House was heaping insult: after insult qn them, but the Lower, House Healed them in .a far more honorable way .than the Legislative Council. It is ;always regarded as co a man when he is down,* or to crow oVer a fallen foe, and that was exactly what the Legislative Council ditj, to the Stout-Vogel Ministry. The Representation Act was brought before the Council by Mr Buckley, and after passing the second reading of it he moved for an adjournment uhitil next day. Dr Pollen then took the Bill out of the bauds of the Government and got it passed through all its stages at once. This was the greatest insult a Government ever got, , and Mr Buckley, said, that .only, for .being: a Minister, he would walk , out of the Council: and never again enter it. Again, when the retrenchment scheme came before the Council, Pensioner Pollen became outrageous because the honorarium of the Councillors was-reduced, and he threatened to resign. This is a specimen of the sort of councillors pensioned civil servants make, and we think it is time the elevation of such people ceased. From the latest accounts to hand we gather that it is very likely Sir ILirry Atkinson will ba defeated in his effort

to raise Major Campbell to the Council. Some of his own-Ministers do not agree with him, and the Opposition have decided to oppose such a proposal. It id really a shameful piece of jobbery—it is retrenchment with a vengeance—arid we trust we shall hear no more of it.